Saturday, November 29, 2014

I must admit that I know very little about Bill Cosby, the comedian. I do know that he and I shared the same talent agency in Hollywood, William Morris Agency. They clearly and rightfully did much better by him than they could do with me. He was generating significant amounts of money for his TV show in syndication. I was impressed, then.

Now, I listen and read about all the accusations made against him and wonder what type of man must he be, or have been, in order to have drugged and raped at least seventeen women. As a psychiatrist, I certainly can provide an array of diagnostic terms from misogynist, insecure, sociopathic and hostile, etc. However, what interested me about these accusations at this point in time in his 77 year old life is the fact that bad deeds do not escape the attention of the American public no matter how many years ago they had been committed. With this new age of electronic immediacy nothing evades the ubiquitous, voracious appetite of the internet and its ancillary partners –twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and many other apps.

As I read about Cosby’s travails, I immediately thought of Hillary Clinton and what troubles she may have in her impending race for the 2016 Presidential Election. Despite nascent strife within the recently defeated Democratic Party, I envisioned a far more serious issue for Hillary than the one concerning the leftward tilt of the Democratic Party. I recalled a conversation I had years ago with a prominent Democratic politician who had asked me a key question when Hillary was running against a young Obama: ”Will Bill Clinton’s continued sexual forays hurt Hillary?”

My answer was a simple, “Yes”!Of course, Obama won and Hillary was dispensed to the not-so-shabby State Department, where she really had not accomplished very much as Sec State. This blog is not intended to bash or laud Hillary. I am writing because the issue of past sexual indiscretions, no matter how far back, always seem to arise to the surface at a point of time when one least expects it. I am clearly not a fan of Hillary’s. But at the same time, if she were to run, then let her be judged on simply her talents and not those of her husband’s.

I am really asking one question:Is Hillary running alone or is she running wittingly or unwittingly within the penumbra of her husband’s indiscretions?My assumption that Mrs Clinton has not come to terms with her husband’s past and present indiscretions is based on the fact that she has never really separated herself, physically, emotionally or psychologically from the iconic personae of Bill Clinton. As a politician, she tends to bask in the blinding glares of her husband’s alleged accomplishments. Yet she moves away from his desultory speeches and narcissistic pronouncements of self-adulation when it is convenient for her to do so. Hillary is, by choice, intertwined within the fibrils of a blaring sociopath, Bill Clinton, whether she likes it or not.

For me, the Delphi Oracle has arrived in the most propitious way possible—a collective cry by seventeen abused women against “America’s Father Figure”—Bill Cosby.

I am certain that Bill Cosby will pay the price for his miscreant behavior. This time, his talent agents, William Morris Endeavor, can do nothing to help him out.

However, the die is cast for Hillary. Will she disavow her husband’s debauched past? Is she able to articulate a coherent explanation for women’s rights reflecting on her own past experiences as an abused wife of an inveterate sex addict? Or, will she run like Sisyphus up the unending hill, never to arrive at her destination; while at the same time, tearing apart her Democratic Party? We will have to wait and see.

Who would have thought that Bill Cosby’s past indiscretions might have a predictive aspect for determining our American future?

Friday, November 28, 2014

To all my readers and contributors,
I am proud to announce the release of my newest book, dedicated to penetrating the truth:

STEVE PIECZENIK TALKS:

The September of 2012 Through The September of 2014

A blow-by-blow analysis of current events by "a real spymaster"-Alex Jones

"This book has what they don't want you to know!"-Anonymous

"I compiled all my blogs into one book for a simple
reason. I wanted to make certain in the years to come that if the
internet was blocked, heavily censored or restricted, there was a
complete record of that time before such drastic censorship. The fair
question to ask is: do I believe that such a time of serious restriction
of the internet will come?
The answer is simply yes!"-Steve R. Pieczenik

Three Secretaries of Defense Resigned/Fired on Obama’s Watch !Now is the time to redefine what a 21st Century Secretary of Defense should be in this changing world. As you many of you know by now, I will often take a bad situation in our National Security and try to make something constructive out of it or at least, reformulate a new understanding of the problem at hand. America requires a military leader that is competent, powerful and understands that we are operating in a new age but who also can advantage the lessons of the past. Yet we have been witnessing an assortment of good men performing poorly or not at all in overseeing a military of close to 2.2 million personnel.

Now I will redefine the role of a 21st Century Secretary of Defense who must address the protean issues confronting our forces all over the world including: terrorism in general; ISIS in Iraq/Syria; Russia/Putin incursions; Chinese naval/military expansion in the South China Sea/Indian Ocean; Middle East nation-state implosions; cybersecurity; space warfare; naval warfare etc. Just enumerating the problems confronting the new Sec Defense is exhausting, if not debilitating. The multitude of these problems implies the notion that no one person is capable of dealing with all of these issues. In reality that may be true.

However, like a Medical Emergency Room, the Pentagon with its widespread military commitments is akin to the diversity of problems that we, doctors, have to treat on a seemingly ad hoc basis, 24/7. I am not suggesting that a physician become the new Sec Defense but the characteristics of an effective ER doctor might apply to the redefinition of what the new Sec Def might require in order to perform his/her job properly, if not magnificently.

This new Sec Def will have to possess the ability and experience to read the personalities and capabilities of the senior military leadership quickly. No Sec Def had a better assessment of his personnel than George Marshal who dismissed over six hundred senior military personnel and appointed George Patton, [Colonel] Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, and the greatest narcissist of all, Douglas MacArthur, to key positions for implementing a two war strategy. I am not advocating a complete house cleaning because that would serve no purpose, other than instilling massive fear into an already disfunctional system. What I am advocating for is a candidate who has been tutored and experienced in working with a myriad of military personnel in a smorgasbord of combat scenarios from counter-terrorism to cyber-warfare; naval containment of worldwide sea lanes; selective use of Special Forces [which would not open their collective mouths as the SEAL TEAMS have done]; space warfare; submarine warfare; and ‘Regime Change’.

Clearly this is quite a daunting task. Few of our past six Sec. Def. have been good at any of these let alone a multiple of these skills. None of them have been really trained specifically to deal with large groups of different personalities; and equally important, none of them, be they of either party, have experienced combat, let alone understand the dynamics of terrorism, counter insurgence or regime change.

Our current military has some unique qualities. It is now populated by the warrior/scholar which means that the intellectual demands of leadership are far more rigorous than in the past. There will be many challenges to decisions on strategy by underlings. The new Sec of Def must be ready to delineate plans in theoretical terms as well as providing references to past failures and successes. After the Chairman of the JCS achieves a military consensus, it requires him/her to impose it on the White House and all other ancillary bodies of intelligence, logistics and implementation.

The new Sec Def must be able to pivot back and forth to address the different military strategies and tactics required by the specific regional conflict. What may work in Syria may not work in North Africa. Similarly, cyber warfare may not be appropriate to the penetration of groups like ISIS which may involve an incredible effort on behalf of all types of HUMINT from a variety of countries and esoteric sources.

Most likely, neither academia nor politics will provide this type of individual who is really a polymath of military/psychological/managerial talents rarely found in a political loyalist turned adversary [a la Panetta and Gates]. Our country has always discovered these unusual individuals at times of need. George Marshal was a quiet self-effacing southern military officer, trained at Virginia Military Institute [VMI] and not at West Point.

America needs to identify the Black Swans of International Foreign Security and can no longer rely on the outdated, outmoded military academies [West Point, Annapolis], think tanks [Brookings, Heritage, RAND]; nor non-governmental institutions like the dormant Council On Foreign Relations. New times require new types of leaders who have been versed in all matter of war and its consequences.

Our new Sec Def must first listen, learn and then decide. Then he/she must execute a strategy or different strategies; articulate the Rules of Engagement [ROE]; and most importantly, know how to terminate the conflict and leave without any residue of regret or resurgence of the initial problem. It’s a formidable task for someone that must have unusual skills. The least of which is the need to inject his/her narcissism into the front pages of our newspapers; nor the sadistic need to brow-beat our senior officers into submission of military plan that would never work.

Times are a changing. Now it’s time for a new type of American leader –be it in war, or in peace. For the reality is that war and peace are truly inseparable. In times of turbulence, our Black Swans have often arisen in the past, into the maelstroms of our discontent, and have been able to allay our greatest fears, seamlessly.

Interestingly enough, General George Marshall, later Secretary of State, never wrote of his exploits as the most successful Sec Def. in the history of our country. Modesty and competency are extremely rare virtues in our modern times.

The less the medical doctor explains the complicated procedure of healing the sick patient, the more successful will be the outcome. Titrate expectations! Under promise and over deliver. Can we do that in the 21st Century?

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

“Whiplash”The Amazing Cinema Jewel of 2014!The story of a student jazz drummer and a relentless sadistic teacher scores major points on screenplay, direction and acting. This is a sure academy award winner. Allow me to tell you about a film that I think most of you will enjoy.It’s an independently produced film that won awards at the Sundance Film Festival. The story is about a young drummer trying to reach perfection. Driving Andrew Neiman [Miles Teller] is a sadistic drill sergeant of a conductor, Terence Fletcher [J.K. Simmons] who manipulates the young man up to an obsessional point where Miles has no other choice than to become both crazy with fury and at the same time, the new Buddy Rich.

On the surface this story may not sound compelling, yet when you see the J.K. Simmons, the avuncular insurance sales man on our TV commercials, turn into a nasty-ass drill sergeant a la ‘Full Metal Jacket’, then you have seen true acting. I was stunned by the performances of both Simmons and Teller. Moreover, I was completely taken aback by the taut script and professional directing.

Even more amazing was the fact that the writer/director was a novitiate ex-Harvard Student, Damien Chazelle. His proficiency in writing conflict and dialogue belied the fact that this was film was really his break-out opus. Whiplash was only the second film which this 29 year old man had ever directed. Like the last year’s esoteric film, “Dallas Buyer’s Club” , which I had picked to win Academy Awards in the three categories of script-writing, directing and acting; I will go on a limb again, and chose “Whiplash” as the trifecta winner in all three categories.

What pleases me the most was the fact that an unknown writer/director had a chance to make a small budget film [$3.3M] and succeed at a time when movie sequels and blockbusters are deep-sixing Hollywood. Please, if you get the chance to see this gem of a movie, be prepared to witness the socialized sadism/masochism of becoming the best of the best in the music profession. The film points out very clearly that if one aspires to reach the apex of a career, personal ambitions mean very little without self-discipline, intense focus and the unenviable ability to endure humiliation.

This film shows how rejection is the mother of greatness. Never give up!!

Thank you, Damien Chazelle. May you continue to succeed in your chosen profession of writer/director. I can only imagine how many rejections you had to endure to make this treasure of a film. Thank you Sundance Institute for giving him the chance to burnish his nascent talents.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Watch as the Pentagon Fails to End the Wars that They Should have Never Started in Iraq/Afghanistan.

Over the past thirteen years, I have watched these war hungry generals perform in the Pentagon’s “Fools and Follies.” Now, under massive pressure from the Pentagon, President Obama announced that he would continue to “ensure American troops will have a direct role in fighting in War-Ravaged Afghanistan ….” [NY Times, Nov.21, 2014].

Just when I thought that we Americans had enough of two wasteful wars waged over an inexcusable 13 year period of time, Gen. John F. Campbell and his cohorts intimidated Obama into sending more troops, fighter jets [F-16, B-1B bombers] and drones [Predator and Reaper] to fight an assortment of ersatz enemies in Afghanistan.

Who are the enemies?Apparently, the Pentagon has had a serious problem in trying to identify who these enemies really are. Suddenly, our enemies have been augmented in size from just Al Qaeda to the Haqqani Network to the Taliban and others. Our generals who feel that they have not had enough wars to justify their existence, if not their absurd braids of useless metals on their chest, have literally ‘scared’ our President into expanding the wars both into Iraq and now, Afghanistan.

I have found that our Department of Defense is replete with a group of senior military officers who have no idea of how to start, manage, or more importantly, FINISH A WAR!! What we have now is a military RUN AMOK!Let me assure you that our National Security is in no way threatened by terrorists from Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else. In fact, more deaths have occurred from obesity, smoking, diabetes than terrorism or any other make-shift threat. Why do we continue to fight overseas in unnecessary wars? Simply because we have a dysfunctional military corps of officers who want to go down in their own history books tucked away in their vest pockets, as having fought something, or someone, before they die, or more importantly, write their hagiography [autobiography].

These generals and admirals could care little about the cost of human lives, including both military or civilian deaths that they would incur while trying to exercise their personal narcissistic enterprises. These generals will never shy from using such buzz words as democracy, freedom and training, in order to justify their fool-hardy incursions. For over thirty years, America has spawned a group of useless, ineffectual, primarily narcissistic generals who want nothing more than to claim that they had fought at least once in their lifetime. They basically serve themselves not our country. We have no one in authority to stop these Generals-Run-Amok from continuing wars that create needless ‘wounded warriors’ which have served as ‘cannon fodder’ for the Pentagon’s Folly. These Pentagon Fools who think they understand war, have never really won a war. Nor have they ever terminated a war. In effect, they are men in uniform who have become extremely dangerous to the national security of our great nation. In addition, they have become inexorable nexus of toxic fumes of war crimes, extensive collateral damage, and a blemish on America’s history of military victories.

As a veteran of several conflicts, I cannot in anyway rationalize their need to stay one more minute in Afghanistan. These foolish generals know, all too well, that the enemies that they seek are products of CIA/MI creators and work in close concert with Pakistan’s ISI (also CIA created). Americans are allowing our generals an opportunity to fight the shadows of our own creation. Witness the shades and shadows of wars lost---Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, Pakistan, et. al.

This is outright insanity. Our President is too weak to defy his generals. The White House is split on its attitude to the necessary trade-offs between the need for peace and the artificial imperatives of an unnecessary war. For years, I have explained to you that we have had a ‘soft military coup’ in this country, now you see the evidence.What do I mean?Most of congress is beholden to the Pentagon, for some ”jobs” contract or base funding. The military and its industrial minions hold the threat of “cutting jobs” “job loss” over elected officials like a sword of Damacles, making congressman hostage to our military. There is not one district in this country that does not have a piece of the military-industrial complex in it. If we have no real enemies to fight, no worries, we will just create some. President Eisenhower warned us in the late 1950’s of this obscene military-industrial complex which would eventually devour our civil society; bleeding it of much needed sustenance that should go to schools, health systems and infrastructure repairs. These ‘brave generals’ whose only concern is their own personal glory ---or the self-delusion of possessing that glory – care not a wit for the welfare of this great Republic.

Americans: Wake up and see the truth about these endless wars. These are NOT for your protection nor that of this country, these continuous conflicts are serving the glory of these generals and this system that operates in the shadows. For many years, I have helped DOD create strategies that would allow them to PREVENT combat in foreign lands. It saddens me to see these generals that are misguided and unchecked. This is the 21st century, its time to re-think this outdated military model that fosters such egotistical, unpatriotic military leadership.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Obama’s Ruling on Five Million Immigrants Proves One Salient Point of Politics: Power Abhors a Vacuum!

President Obama’s recent decision to allow five million immigrants to remain in the USA without legislative approval proves one salient point: Power of any type when effectively wielded abhors a vacuum.

The recent mid-term victory of the Republicans across the USA in the senate, congress and in the states proved one thing only—the appearance of diffuse political victories in a Republican Party without effective, strong or constructive leadership means absolutely nothing. In the world in which I had inhabited, both as a national security operative and as serial entrepreneur, I learned the one lesson that has buoyed me to success—the man alone is far more dangerous and effective than a gaggle of inept individuals with fancy titles and no strategy or tactics.

Henrik Ibsen, the famous Norwegian Playwright, wrote a play called the “Master Builder” about a single man who built churches. In that play, Ibsen writes in far more poetic language; ”That the man alone is the most dangerous man in the universe.” Whether you are for or against the immigration bill, Obama once again proved to me that particular adage.

Obama knew before the midterm elections that he had lost his progressive Democratic base. He also realized that the media portrayed him as a loner acting without consent and advice from the non-existent legislators. Cleverly, he simply skirted the pyrrhic victory of the Republicans who had really accomplished nothing more than spending billions of dollars on a Potemkin election victory. Sensing the absurdity of the Republican victory where the old ineffectual diehard reblend themselves back into a mixture of predictable ineptitude and posturing, Team Obama immediately went into action.

Right after the election, he went to Asia and worked effectively with AIPAC, bolstering the ASEA treaty, both militarily and economically. He discussed the limits of confrontation with the recalcitrant Chinese President Xi concerning cyber security and pollution. Next he reaffirmed our commitment to our front line South East Asian allies insuring that our CINCPAC would work more effectively with our former formidable enemy Vietnam. There are even hints that we may rebase our navy in the very country that had once defeated us in war. At the same time, he continued to increase the heat on the economic warfare against Putin and Russia to the extent that Putin has had to redeploy ancient military planes, battle ships that belong more appropriately in a mothball fleet.

Finally, while Boehner was too busy pontificated about nothing and Mitch McConnell was gloating about his soporific resurgence in the Senate, Obama made complete fools of any Republican pretension that they were either unified or effective. He announced to the Republicans and America what he had promised to do all along if the Republicans remained as obdurate and pompous as they had always been---he made Five Million Hispanics legal residents of the USA---with a stroke of the pen. In addition, he won on the Keystone Pollution Pipeline that old relic from the ancient energy era gone by.

Obama’s past month successes demonstrate several important factors to me about the American Republic [remember its not a Democracy]:

▪POTUS used the military to assess and curb the Ebola Epidemic when all his civilian sycophants failed en masse.

Obama proved to me, that we should never underestimate the power of the single man who fears no retribution of retaliation. Obama showed us that we have no effective leadership in our legislative houses, neither Democrat or Republican. What we have created through a nonsensical Theater of the Absurd where obscene amounts of money can be spent on sycophants and panderers who can do nothing more than act the part of a senator or congressman but in reality accomplish little. Americans have come to the sad conclusion that legislative gamesmanship is not even worthy watching. So most of us have accordingly tuned out both the Republicans and Democrats…And we will continue to do so way into the future, especially in 2016.

Obama the victor, gets the spoils. Obama has effectively aced out the legislative, judicial branches of the U.S.G; as well as the imploding mainstream media with their endless narcissistic cries of “Watch and Listen to me I am your Oracle of Truth!” Such Nonsense! CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS have faltered into irrelevancy as no one really cares to hear or watch any of their circus shows. Even Fox has become a caricature of itself.

Hail Obama! I write this blog not to bury Obama, as the media and phony pundits have wrongfully done. I come to PRAISE HIM !!

As General George Patton had once said:“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.”

Thursday, November 13, 2014

The recent article by Helene Cooper, NY Times, 11/13/2014, “Top General Says He’s Open To Using Ground Troops To Take Mosul” reaffirms for me one basic concept of war. We never enter into a war with the complete conviction to win. Instead Americans become consumed in our own quagmire of wishful thinking and lack of strategy. How many times have we heard the re-affirmation from President Obama that ‘there will not be American boots in Iraq’.

He, like most of our Presidents has lied repeatedly without consequence. After POTUS has just deployed close to 3000 American troops to Iraq to be ‘military advisors’—whatever that means—we now have a clear statement that there will be a very high probability that there will be American combat soldiers fighting alongside the irrepressible non-existent Iraq Army.

Ostensibly, we are downsizing our fighting forces. In reality, it appears that Americans are fighting everywhere from Africa to the Middle East and on to the Ukraine. Many of these fighting personnel are categorized in the rubric of ‘advisors’. Yet, having spent only thirty years in the national security apparatus, I am still not clear as to what ‘combat advisor’ is other than an American soldier shooting alongside his designated ‘consultee’. The combatants that our ‘advisors’ have ‘helped’ like the South Vietnamese, Iraquis and other unwilling patrons have all exhibited one major deficit. They don’t really want to win a war or fight for themselves.

Isn’t bizarre that our Presidents, JFK and LBJ, assured our nation that we had ‘no direct involvement’ in Vietnam, after having deployed over one million soldiers in different rotations of ‘advisor’? How is it that these ‘advisors’ then turned into massive casualties in Vietnam consisting of over 50,000 dead and more than 250,000 wounded?Iraq has developed its own vocabulary of absurdity. We invaded for WMDs that were never there. We fought against Shi’ites and other ethnic groups who killed and maimed our ‘advisors’ at record numbers. Finally we left in order to make certain that we would never return. However, we have not really “returned” to Iraq because we are not there in ‘full combat’ roles but as ‘advisors’.

Now Dempsey not having learned the lessons of Vietnam, nor the previous Iraq/Afghanistan wars, has now committed himself and our country without a declaration of war, to having ‘modest troop’ numbers in Mosul. Déjà vu…. All over again?

What will the final result of the non-combatants in the so-called ‘non-war of Iraq’ be? More dead Americans. Greater numbers of “wounded warriors”.

Why do I think that this deployment to Mosul is very dangerous? We are not in a state of war with Iraq, Afghanistan or any other country. ISIS is strictly the result of our incompetent handling of a multi-culture society that we did not really understand. Nor were we, Americans able to effectively work with all the Shi’ites, Sunni, Kurds, Druze – and their shifting hourly alliances, purposefully created in order to confound our so-called ‘best efforts’.

Dempsey’s inevitable deployment of a ‘modest force’ is the third time that Americans have invaded Iraq without a clear rationale; other than the duplicitous, CIA-contrived-concept of ‘fighting terrorism’ a la George Bush Jr/Cheney. “Terrorism” is not a strategy. It is a tactic that is best handled by HUMINT, psychological warfare methods, and “regime change”—rather than kinetic actions/forces.

For some time now, I have respected both the professionalism and dedication of General Martin Dempsey. He has brooked the nonsensical, amateurish behavior of the novitiates, like Obama and his White House staff--- Susan Rice; Ben Rhodes; Samantha Powers; John Brennan; Dennis McDonough.

Yet now in his statement that he is willing to “deploy a modest force to Mosul”, Dempsey enters the pantheon of Army Generals who have gone down in history as unadulterated failures like Gen. Westmoreland [Vietnam] and Gen.Tommy Franks [‘shock and awe’]. Americans have remained too silent at a time when the President, once again, relies on rationales for war that depend on distortions, outright lies and constant deceptions.

Obama did not serve in combat. Neither did any of the pundits who had sent us into the wars in which we were defeated –LBJ, Reagan, Clinton, Bush jr

Wake up America! And let’s stop this absurd warring! That is the best honor that we can give our Veterans who have served our country. No more unnecessary wars! Remember, it is very easy to send American troops into combat but it is very hard, if almost impossible, to extract them from combat.

Let us remember that we have not won a war since 1945. Yet we have been involved in hundreds of undeclared conflicts over the world in the ersatz jingoistic cry of “national security” over the past fifty years.

Let me end this blog by quoting Herodotus, the famous Greek philosopher:“In peace, sons bury their fathers; in war, fathers bury their sons!”

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Congratulations Putin! You are true to your roots of being an Ex-KGB Operative. Keep on repeating the mistakes of the past and watch as Russia teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. This time, it was not the Communists who destroyed Russia, but the arrogance and financial ignorance of you, Putin. It is unfortunate for the Russian people that in the 21st century they had elected the ‘village idiot’—someone who goes around town spouting nonsense as the town, or in this case Russia, is falling apart.

The lessons of the Soviet Union’s dissolution were not complicated. At the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, I learned about two important fissures in the Soviet Union. One was it’s faulty economy producing useless goods of absolutely no value. The second important variable, was the fact that the Soviet Military, as brilliant as it had performed in WWII under Stalin, could no longer sustain a force structure that was credible as a deterrent.

It took the USG 30 years of “regime change” to transform the dysfunctional Soviet System into a viable Russian Federation. Now, unfortunately for Putin, he alone has been able to achieve the destruction of that viable Federation. Like all intelligence operatives who are obsessed with self-grandeur yet are paranoid about their immediate environs, Putin will go into a twirling self-destructive mode.

For some time now, I have been warning Putin that his own dynamics would inevitably draw him into a vortex of self-implosion. Hopefully, the Russian Federation can bail itself out before he takes everyone down with him. Here are the hard numbers on what Russia must endure as the price of world oil [brent oil down to $70-80] tumbles precipitously because of America’s incredible entrepreneurial ability to bring more capacity on line and break the spell of OPEC [bye-bye Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Algeria, Libya].

The Kremlin Apparatchiks and potential ex-Kleptocrats who have stolen trillions of dollars from Russia are now faced with the harsh reality as outlined by OSINT, Stratfor, 11/4/2014:

▪Presently the Russian cabinet is holding meetings to revise the Revenues [80% comes from oil] based on $100 a barrel. Intelligence reports indicate that the more knowledgeable technocrats are basing the Russian 2015 Economy on $80-$90 per barrel.

▪There are some indications that an immediate future scenario of revenues may even be based on the more realistic price of $60 per barrel.

▪At any oil price below $80-90 a barrel, Russia must dip into its Rainy Day Funds allocated for such a major deficit in the budget.

▪Example: Russia has about $582 billion USD in reserves to spend on the budget deficit. $409 billion in currency reserves [immediate cash flows]. $83 billion in National Wealth Fund; and $90 billion in the National Reserve Fund [must be liquidated].

▪$70 billion has already been spent on plugging up the financial hole created by the US/EU economic warfare.

▪It is suspected with a high amount of certainty that another $250 billion USD will also be used to patch up Putin’s Sochi and Ukrainian “Follies”- exorbitant expenditures that would have placed him in the Gulags under Stalin; or even the drunkard, Boris Yeltsin.

That’s not the worst, right now there is about $100 billion in flight capital, and that’s a gross approximation. Putin has no idea of how to run the Russian Regional Governments, remember that Russia has 11 time zones and the USA has only 4 time zones. Those regional governors are no fools and they are correctly demanding that their collective debts be immediately discounted and restructured, placing immense economic pressure on a ‘bankrupt Kremlin’. Putin’s troubles have not even begun. The Russian banks which have been hit hard by our economic warfare have requested a major cash infusion in the 100s of billions of dollars in order to keep them solvent. Putin’s thugs have no knowledge of how to manage their Rosneft owned bank, the honey pot of corruption which may soon not exist, thanks to financial illiteracy.

This is the real piece de resistance. Just as the Soviets had done before, (true to my past and current assessment of their behavior) Putin demanded increased weapons spending while his country is broke. From my humble point of view, Russia is ready to go down in a flaming blaze of insolvency, having been hit by the “Mohammed Ali double punch” of a blow to the economy, while straining to maintain a credible force structure. As a result, I believe that Putin’s so-called popularity, ranging somewhere between 80% and infinity will not mean a damn thing when oil gets closer to $50 a barrel. At that price, Russia will be knocking at the International Monetary Fund[IMF]; as well as the World Bank.

I hope that I am wrong; because, I have always admired the fortitude of the Russians and its magnificent culture. However, when the Putin is allowed to mutter nonsensical words; while, at the same time, tries to burn down his straw-hewn village, then something, or someone has to go.

Vsyovo Haroshovo! All the best Russia.

Next time pick someone who is CULTURANI! Cultured and smart. Preferably a master chess player.

Monday, November 3, 2014

“In Air and Cyberspace, on Land and Sea, Russia Shows Muscle”, NYTimes, 11,1, 2014 by Andrew Roth.

It was only a matter of time before my favorite A.D.D. Russian judo expert, Vladimir Putin, initiated a trial of anti-American incursions.

The NYTimes article quoted above, describes Putin’s ADD activities as follows:“How else to explain the sudden increase of bombers over Europe, kidnapped spies, troop buildups in Eastern Europe and roaming submarines in the Baltic Sea?”I wonder if Putin is trying out for a Director’s/Producer’s role in one of my partners Tom Clancy’s franchise movies? Maybe Putin might want to make a sequel to the “Hunt For Red October”? Or something akin to “Clear And Present Danger”? Somehow I think that Putin is really putting his heart, mind and soul into an attempt to disrupt American/European interests around the world.

What makes me come to that conclusion?Putin is a creature of habit. He is not a long-range strategist; nor is he a chess player, a game in which the Russians have excelled for centuries. Therefore I must conclude as someone who has worked against the KGB for decades that he is trying all kinds of nuisance tactics to disrupt the natural flow of world events as they evolve without any unnecessary turbulence. Putin is clearly disturbed, emotionally and physically. He is, in the words of a New Yorker from Harlem, “itching for a fight”.

But with whom?

Probably with anyone whom he could pick on who would not be able to retaliate effectively against him or his country. The Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia have just witnessed the Putin Borscht special with the following noisome overflights of the latest Russian aircraft models:Tu-95; Bear H Bombers; Su-27 fighter jets; IL-78 tanker aircraft.

To make sure that these small, helpless Baltic countries received Putin’s loud message, he “did not file flight plans or maintain contact with civilian air traffic control”.

“During a period of heightened tensions in 2007, Putin resumed the Soviet-era practice of long range patrols far beyond Russian borders.”

However, Putin was still not content with playing with his air force, so he decided to kidnap an Estonian Spy. “The F.S.B. Russia’s security service said in a statement that Mr Kohver [Estonian Spy] had ‘detained on Russian territory’ and had been found to be carrying a pistol and ammunition cartridges, 5000 Euros[$6000], surveillance equipment and ‘intelligence gathering instructions’.” Even in the world of spy novels, this old scenario would never pass by an editor’s red pencil.

How prosaic and cliché can Putin be?

In fact, my dear readers, especially you readers in Russia and the Ukraine, I must admit that I am a little ashamed of Putin. He has demonstrated a concerted and major deficit for creativity and imagination. Any school boy in St Petersburg could have come up with more original ideas to annoy the US and Europe.

I must insist on showing you how RETRO Putin really is. He had sent mysterious submarines into the Baltic Straits where the war weary Swedish Navy described Putin’s pathetic intrusion as, “The Hunt For Reds In October”. Tom Clancy would have been very proud of that play on his best-selling title. Please remember the principle that if one lacks any capability to be new, then one must beat the tempos of past rhythms. In this particular case, Putin has repeatedly tried to Cyber-attack the states of Georgia and Estonia. Then, he attacked Western oil and gas companies.

Ho-hum! How boring!!

Putin is clearly at his wit’s end. He has tried all the old tricks and chicaneries and they don’t seem to be working. He has no master mentor as he had in the past to consult with like Andropov of the KGB or Marcus Wolfe of the Stasi.

Now he has to turn to his childhood friends: “The Crooked Duo”—The Rotenberg Brothers [no brains between the two; only brawn]. There is an old axiom that Matzoh Balls do not belong in the Borscht soup. It will be a short matter of time before the Russian people, no devotee of leaven bread, will figure out this UNHOLY ALLIANCE between the pathetic X-KGB agent Putin and the corrupt Rotenberg Brothers. I predict that the people of Russia will erupt into a maelstrom of a “POGROM” against the remaining Jews in Russia and a replay of the Bolshevik Revolution against the new Tzar Putin. Now, folks, this is a scenario worth waiting to see.

Trust me, Putin is now in center stage and a modern day Chekhov, the physician-writer, is waiting to pen how Putin has destroyed the Great Russia, after so much effort was made to take down the Soviet Union. Stalin would have been angry by Putin’s pettiness and incompetency.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Ben Bradlee, Washington Post: A Formidable, Charming Adversary in the Maryland Savings and Loan Crisis of the Late 1980s!

Some of my readers have asked me about my relationship with Ben Bradlee, the iconic journalist of the Washington Post who recently died at the age of 93. I certainly miss him and his bantering, blustering ways. However, I admit that I really did not know him well. The only time I had any meaningful interchanges with him personally was during the 1980’s Savings & Loan crisis in Maryland.

You might remember that in the late 1980’s most of the Savings and Loan institutions which had acted as erzatz banks had been entering bankruptcy, one after another. This tumble was started by Marvin and Neil Bush in their scam entitled the ‘Silverado S&L Crisis’ in Colorado. Once that S&L went under the sheer momentum of convoluted accounting and a paucity of assets to back up the net worth of the S& L created a panic across the USA which resulted in the eventual dissolution of almost all S&Ls. It is amazing to note how detrimental the entire Bush family [except the mother] has been to the vibrant growth of this great nation. Remember this particular crime when you think about the cherubic, disingenuous Jeb Bush, the newly resurrected ‘intellect’.

Back to Ben Bradlee….

I was given the job, upon which I insisted [as per my usual Modus Operandi] to take over the crisis management of one particular S&L in Maryland in which I had deposited a significant amount of money. In any case, without having to go into the complexities of bailing out a bank [which by the way, Bernake, Paulson and Geitner had no clue whatsoever], I had called up Ben Bradlee at the Washington Post.

Our conversation went something like an Abbot and Costello routine circling around the definitions of ‘net worth’ and ‘cash flow’. Ben, a man with self-admitted deficiencies in banking, told me that ‘net worth’ and ‘cash flow’ were ‘not his problem’ and ‘could not have caused a cash flow run on the Savings & Loan that I was trying to keep alive.’ I in turn went to great lengths to explain to him that our S&L had a ‘net worth’ problem and not a ‘cash flow’ problem. And as a result of an article in his Washington Post, he had specifically created a ‘cash run’ on the S&L I was trying to save.

I ended up quite frustrated and hired a friend and major Federal Prosecutor Earl Silbert, who helped me place an Injunction/ Temporary Restraining Order against the Washington Post from publishing any more information about the S&Ls in Maryland. The upshot was devastating. I had to meet with Bob Woodward, the self-anointed “high priest of Journalism”. I had very little, if any respect for him. I had learned through my thorough background checks on this Yalie that he was a former naval intelligence officer who had never had journalism training. Woodward who’s claim to fame was that he had briefed General Alexander Haig, another nit-wit on Henry Kissinger’s staff. It has always been my belief that Woodward and his low class partner Carl Bernstein had facilitated the downward spiral of Nixon with the help of John Dean in what I had considered a “Yalie/CIA inspired take-down of President Nixon.”

Bob Woodward was the man whom Ben had asked me to see in order to resolve this incredibly important problem on banking. However, Woodward, as I had anticipated , turned out to be as stupid and irresponsible if he were not given any ‘inside information’ from his “Skull and Bones” colleagues in the USG. Unbeknownst to Woodward, I had worked on the Montgomery County Sentinel ( he once worked there) where he was described by the editor as ‘completely incompetent’.

The rest of this story was predictable. A S&L crisis started by the Texas family of Bush –Marvin and Neil—spread across the USA like a ‘wildfire’ and ended up in bankrupting the S&Ls, thanks to a Maryland Governor who conveniently disappeared; as well as, a Federal Institution, FSLIC, the counterpart of the FDIC which went belly-up.

That was my one and only experience with the legendary Ben Bradlee. Please remember that legends are simply stories and distorted memories that serve to warp the moments of history that no one wants to remember correctly or accurately. I was a small player in a bigger tragedy which repeated itself under the idiot-savant, President George W. Bush Jr, in an otherwise preventable tragedy entitled The Wall Street Crash of 2008 where the banks were ‘too big to fail’! Nonsense!Who says that history and miscreant characters don’t reappear again and again?

Woodward, like any semi-competent intelligence officer keeps on appearing everywhere to spout the verbiage of self-aggrandizement, lies, distortions and deceptions until the mainstream media reify him as the sine qua non of ‘objective journalism’.

As for the Bush family, they never cease to amaze me in their relentless efforts to destroy the Republic, once and for all. If Barbara Bush[the mother] were to run for the Presidency, then I might support her. As for the rest of them, they belong in the dust bin of American history. How such a pathetic family of male losers have been able to come to power is both a stigmata on our electoral system and an indictment of those who have facilitated their subsequent ascendency to the Presidency.

No one will ever forget the Bush Family’s greatest legacy to America: The 9/11 Stand Down/False Flag and the subsequent murder of 3000 Innocent Americans. Clearly not satisfied to destroy our banking system, they went on to invade Iraq for weapons that were never there. As far as I can remember, the Washington Post never condemned the 9/11 attack or even tried to investigate the fact that Bush Jr/Cheney had been the creators of this fiasco. So what can I say about Ben Bradlee’s absent cry of defiance in that particular moment in time?I was not surprised.

He too was a “Yalie”.. “Skull And Bones” and all that other nonsense. He never really reaffirmed his so-called moral courage which Georgetown so admired about him.

Similarly, the august NY Times, under the direction of the ersatz managers /editors Harold Raines and Bill Keller, performed as dastardly as one might have expected by a newspaper co-opted Washington DC and ‘group think’.

The final chapter will not be written in my lifetime. When the truth about 9/11 and all the other USG chicaneries that occurred under Clinton, Bush jr, and Obama, no newspaper or journalist will have been touted as ‘admirable or courageous’. That glory of uncovering the real truths of America’s collective deceptions do not belong in any one repository of news, but to you, the American citizens, who in your own ways will uncover the lies, deceptions and conceits that have been propagated from the center of this New Roman Empire—Pax Americana—Washington DC which will inevitably languish into intellectual and financial bankruptcy; as befits moral cowards.

So now the so-called ‘Conspiracy Media,’ we the people, will arise until there will be no one hero or media format, but a simple revolution of truth and honesty, at whatever cost of lives that may take.

Let me end this post by quoting the words of the great German writer, Goethe, who had pinpointed the nature of our collective problems, centuries ago:“We, the people are NEVER DECEIVED. WE DECEIVE OURSELVES!”

Let’s terminate our self deceptions once and for all and rid ourselves of these noisome politicians who try to destroy our way of life.

ABC President Ben Sherwood is the brother of Obama’s Special Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood

CNN President Virginia Moseley is married to former Hillary Clinton’s Deputy Secretary Tom Nides.

And now you know why it is no surprise the media is in Obama's pocket.

Ya think there might be a little bias in the news ???

It also explains the cover up of Benghazi.........just before the election!Remember its your responsibility to make you know what is going on before you vote.If you want the find out what the hell is going on, try Fox new.

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About Me

Dr. Steve Pieczenik is a critically acclaimed author of psycho-political thrillers and the co-creator of the New York Times best-selling "Tom Clancy's Op-Center" and "Tom Clancy's Net Force" book series. He is also one of the world's most experienced international crisis managers and hostage negotiators. His novels are based on his twenty years experience in resolving international crises for five U.S. administrations.